Breitling ref 817 CP-1 E.I Esercito Italiano E.I.0264

this watch is no longer available

Specifically made for Italian Helicopter pilots , (Army Pilots, not Air Force pilots) and in some rare cases to platoon commanders of the Battaglione Paracadutisti Carabinieri “Tuscania”. These guys get a full training as Carabinieri (Police and Military Police) then a full training as paratroopers at the “Folgore” Paratroopers Brigade School in Livorno (Tuscany). Then the steep mountains of Sardegna and Calabria are their usual fields of ops hunting kidnappers, mobsters and camorrists. They are the spearhead of almost all the peacekeeping and peace enforcing italian mission.

This is assigned number E.I. 0616 in immaculate condition

40mm with fantastic green and orange lume

original bracelet and stunning overall condition , please see pictures

Description

Specifically made for Italian Helicopter pilots , (Army Pilots, not Air Force pilots) and in some rare cases to platoon commanders of the Battaglione Paracadutisti Carabinieri “Tuscania”. These guys get a full training as Carabinieri (Police and Military Police) then a full training as paratroopers at the “Folgore” Paratroopers Brigade School in Livorno (Tuscany). Then the steep mountains of Sardegna and Calabria are their usual fields of ops hunting kidnappers, mobsters and camorrists. They are the spearhead of almost all the peacekeeping and peace enforcing italian mission.

Tough guys.

as such these were never made available commercially on the open market and 22 pieces have surfaced so far or were ever offered for sale. The ones I have found over the last 15 years are these , and I would love to hear from fellow collectors if they have more information :

– The Pilots really disliked these watches as it was delivered to them with a Japanese version of the Speidel bracelet and they disliked wearing those bracelets as it pinched their arms and hairs on their arms , Hence the reason why approx 20-25% of the watches we have seen are in such good condition

– The Pilots really disliked these watches as it has a manual wind movement when , at the time, automatic chronographs were already readily available

– A large portion of these watches were destroyed due to the stricter radiation guidelines , and although the used Tritium has a much lower radiation count than previously used Radium at the end of the 70ies it was decided to no longer use them and destroy them

What the truth is in these rumors is , as always , anyone’s guess but the fact remains that we have only seen miniscule numbers of these watches hit the ‘open market’

It is my long held belief, after many years of investigating other Breitling models, that Breitling ordered watch cases in batches from 1000’s pieces. probably due to economy of scale etc. so it is my firm belief there were a maximum of 1000 pieces ref 817 ever made , and even less ‘assigned’ as there are unassigned pieces as well

I hope if anyone has some info on these Breitling ref 817 , numbers , serial numbers , provenance, who and where they were delivered etc that they please contact me